Description

Abstract: Cross-cultural comparisons of appetitive and dietary responses to foods should provide mechanistic insights on the global obesity prevalence pattern. Healthy, normal weight, adult, Americans (N=24) and Ghanaians (N=29) participated in eight food challenges. After an overnight fast, appetite was rated and saliva was collected before and after viewing/smelling the day’s food challenge (peanuts, peanut butter, almonds, chocolate, chestnuts, pickles, rice cakes or no load). Appetitive sensations were recorded for 3 h and diet records were kept 24 h prior to and following food ingestion. Similar changes of hunger were noted across cultures. Discrepancies in cephalic phase salivary flow were observed between groups for all foods except peanuts (all P<0.05), possibly due to differences in food familiarity and local cuisine. Mean (SE) dietary compensation scores were 81